An approach to estimating and extrapolating model error based on inverse problem methods:towards accurate numerical weather prediction

Model error is one of the key factors restricting the accuracy of numerical weather prediction （NWP）. Considering the continuous evolution of the atmosphere, the observed data （ignoring the measurement error） can be viewed as a series of solutions of an accurate model governing the actual atmosphere. Model error is represented as an unknown term in the accurate model, thus NWP can be considered as an inverse problem to uncover the unknown error term. The inverse problem models can absorb long periods of observed data to generate model error correction procedures. They thus resolve the deficiency and faultiness of the NWP schemes employing only the initial-time data. In this study we construct two inverse problem models to estimate and extrapolate the time-varying and spatial-varying model errors in both the historical and forecast periods by using recent observations and analogue phenomena of the atmosphere. Numerical experiment on Burgers＇ equation has illustrated the substantial forecast improvement using inverse problem algorithms. The proposed inverse problem methods of suppressing NWP errors will be useful in future high accuracy applications of NWP.

Hydrological Evaluation with SWAT Model and Numerical Weather Prediction for Flash Flood Warning System in Thailand

Flash floods are a natural disaster that occurs annually, especially in the mountainous terrain and steep slopes of northern Thailand. The current flood forecasting systems and tools are available but have low accuracy and efficiency. The numbers of rainfall and runoff stations are less, because the access to the station area is difficult. Additionally, the operation and maintenance costs are high. Hydrological modeling of a SWAT （Soil and Water Assessment Tool） was used in this study with the application of three days weather forecast from the NWP （numerical weather prediction）, which provided temperature, relative humidity, rainfall, sunshine and wind speed. The data from NWP and SWAT were used to simulate the runoff from the Nan River in the last 10 years （2000-2010）. It was found that the simulated flow rate for the main streams using data from NWP were higher than the observations. At the N64 and Nl stations, the ratios of the maximum simulated flow rate to the observations were equal to 108% and 118%, respectively. However, for the tributaries, it was found that the simulated flow rate using NWP data was lower than the observations, but, it was still within the acceptable range of not greater than 20%,6. At N65, D090201 and D090203 stations, the ratio of the maximum simulated flow rate were 90.0%, 83.0% and 86.0%, respectively. This was due to the rainfall from the NWP model being greater than the measured rainfall. The NWP rainfall was distributed all over the area while the rainfall data from the measurements were obtained from specific points. Therefore, the rain from the NWP model is very useful especially for the watershed areas without rain gauge stations. In summary, the data from the NWP can be used with the SWAT model and provides relatively sound results despite the value for the main river being slightly higher than the observed data. Consequently, the output can be used to create a flood map for flash flood warning in the area.

Recent Progress in Numerical Atmospheric Modeling in China

This review summarizes the scientific and technical progress in atmospheric modeling in China since 2011,including the dynamical core,model physics,data assimilation,ensemble forecasting,and model evaluation strategies.In terms of the dynamical core,important efforts have been made in the improvement of the existing model formulations and in exploring new modeling approaches that can better adapt to massively parallel computers and global multiscale modeling.With regard to model physics,various achievements in physical representations have been made,especially a trend toward scale-aware parameterization for accommodating the increase of model resolution.In the field of data assimilation,a 4D-Var system has been developed and is operationally used by the National Meteorological Center of China,and its performance is promising.Furthermore,ensemble forecasting has played a more important role in operational forecast systems and progressed in many fundamental techniques.Model evaluation strategies,including key performance metrics and standardized experimental protocols,have been proposed and widely applied to better understand the strengths and weaknesses of the systems,offering key routes for model improvement.The paper concludes with a concise summary of the status quo and a brief outlook in terms of future development.

The Predictability Problems in Numerical Weather and Climate Prediction

The uncertainties caused by the errors of the initial states and the parameters in the numerical model are investigated. Three problems of predictability in numerical weather and climate prediction are proposed, which are related to the maximum predictable time, the maximum prediction error, and the maximum admissible errors of the initial values and the parameters in the model respectively. The three problems are then formulated into nonlinear optimization problems. Effective approaches to deal with these nonlinear optimization problems are provided. The Lorenz’ model is employed to demonstrate how to use these ideas in dealing with these three problems.

Analogue correction method of errors and its application to numerical weather prediction

In this paper, an analogue correction method of errors （ACE） based on a complicated atmospheric model is further developed and applied to numerical weather prediction （NWP）. The analysis shows that the ACE can effectively reduce model errors by combining the statistical analogue method with the dynamical model together in order that the information of plenty of historical data is utilized in the current complicated NWP model, Furthermore, in the ACE, the differences of the similarities between different historical analogues and the current initial state are considered as the weights for estimating model errors. The results of daily, decad and monthly prediction experiments on a complicated T63 atmospheric model show that the performance of the ACE by correcting model errors based on the estimation of the errors of 4 historical analogue predictions is not only better than that of the scheme of only introducing the correction of the errors of every single analogue prediction, but is also better than that of the T63 model.

A Forecast Error Correction Method in Numerical Weather Prediction by Using Recent Multiple-time Evolution Data

The initial value error and the imperfect numerical model are usually considered as error sources of numerical weather prediction （NWP）. By using past multi-time observations and model output, this study proposes a method to estimate imperfect numerical model error. This method can be inversely estimated through expressing the model error as a Lagrange interpolation polynomial, while the coefficients of polyno- mial are determined by past model performance. However, for practical application in the full NWP model, it is necessary to determine the following criteria： （1） the length of past data sufficient for estimation of the model errors, （2） a proper method of estimating the term ＂model integration with the exact solution＂ when solving the inverse problem, and （3） the extent to which this scheme is sensitive to the observational errors. In this study, such issues are resolved using a simple linear model, and an advection diffusion model is applied to discuss the sensitivity of the method to an artificial error source. The results indicate that the forecast errors can be largely reduced using the proposed method if the proper length of past data is chosen. To address the three problems, it is determined that （1） a few data limited by the order of the corrector can be used, （2） trapezoidal approximation can be employed to estimate the ＂term＂ in this study; however, a more accurate method should be explored for an operational NWP model, and （3） the correction is sensitive to observational error.

A model study of the effect of weather forcing on the ecology of a meromictic Siberian lake

We used a Lake Shira numerical model to estimate the response of the ecosystem of a saline meromictic lake to variations in weather parameters during the growing season. The sensitivity analysis of the model suggests that compared to other external(nutrient inflows) and internal(spring biomasses of food-web components) factors, weather parameters are among the most influential for both mixolimnetic(phyto-and zooplankton) and monimolimnetic(purple sulfur bacteria, sulfur reducing bacteria and hydrogen sulfide) food-web components. Calculations with different weather scenarios shows how changes in the water temperature and mixing depth af fect mixolimnetic and monimolimnetic food-web components and the depth of the oxic-anoxic interface in a meromictic lake. When weather forcing stimulates an increase in the biomass of food-web components in the mixolimnion, it produces cascading effects that lead to three results: 1) a higher content of detritus in the water column; 2) a higher content of hydrogen sulfide in the monimolimnion; 3) raising of the oxic-anoxic interface closer to the water-air surface. This cascading effect is complicated by the negative correlation between two light dependent primary producers located at diff erent depths—phytoplankton in the mixolimnion and purple sulfur bacteria at the oxic-anoxic interface. Thus, weather conditions that stimulate higher phytoplankton biomass are associated with a higher detritus content and lower biomass of purple sulfur bacteria, a higher content of hydrogen sulfide and a shallower oxic-anoxic interface. The same weather conditions(higher wind, lower cloud cover, and lower air temperature) promote a scenario of less stable thermal stratification. Thus, our calculations suggest that weather parameters during the summer season strongly control the mixing depth, water temperature and the mixolimnetic food web. An effect of biogeochemical and physical interactions on the depth of the oxicanoxic interface is also detectable. However, intra-and interannual climate and weather effects will be more important for the control of meromixis stability.

Analysis of a Cold Wave Process in Jiujiang and Its Numerical Model Forecast

The cold wave weather process in Jiujiang in the early spring of February 2020 was analyzed.The results show that the establishment of blocking high near Lake Baikal and the rapid southward of cold air after accumulation resulted in the cold wave weather accompanied by strong cooling,hale and rain(snow)weather in Jiujiang.Before the cold wave broke out,the ground warmed up significantly,which was also one of thermal conditions for this cold wave weather.Water vapor conditions were abundant at middle and low levels;at 850 hPa,temperature dropped by 12-14℃during February 14-15,and-4℃isotherm appeared in the southern part of central Jiangxi,which is a favorable condition for rain(snow)in most areas of Jiujiang.

A stamp based exploration framework for numerical weather forecast

Numerical weather simulation data usually comprises various meteorological variables, such as precipitation, temperature and pressure. In practical applications, data generated with several different numerical simulation models are usually used together by forecasters to generate the final forecast. However, it is difficult for forecasters to obtain a clear view of all the data due to its complexity. This has been a great limitation for domain experts to take advantage of all the data in their routine work. In order to help explore the multi-variate and multi-model data, we propose a stamp based exploration framework to assist domain experts in analyzing the data. The framework is used to assist domain experts in detecting the bias patterns between numerical simulation data and observation data. The exploration pipeline originates from a single meteorological variable and extends to multiple variables under the guidance of a designed stamp board. Regional data patterns can be detected by analyzing distinctive stamps on the board or generating extending stamps using the Boolean set operations. Experiment results show that some meteorological phenomena and regional data patterns can be easily detected through the exploration. These can help domain experts conduct the data analysis efficiently and further guide forecasters in producing reliable weather forecast.

NUMERICAL EXPERIMENTS FOR THE EFFECTS OF TWO MODEL INITIALIZATION SCHEMES ON RAINFALL FORECAST IN THE 2008 FLOODING SEASON

In this paper, based on heavy rain numerical forecast model AREM(Advanced Regional Eta Model), two different initialization schemes, LAPS and GRAPES-3DVAR, are used to run assimilation experiments of AREM-LAPS and AREM-3DVAR with the same data source(NCEP forecast field, surface data and radio-soundings) during the period from 21 May to 30 July 2008 to investigate the effect of the two initialization schemes on the rainfall simulation. The result suggests that:(1) the forecast TS score by the AREM-LAPS is higher than that by the AREM-3DVAR for rainfall in different areas, at different valid time and with different intensity, especially for the heavy rain, rainstorm and extremely heavy rain;(2) the AREM-3DVAR can generally simulate the average rainfall distribution, but the forecast area is smaller and rainfall intensity is weaker than the observation, while the AREM-LAPS significantly improves the forecast;(3) the AREM-LAPS gives a better forecast for the south-north shift of rainfall bands and the rainfall intensity variation than the AREM-3DVAR;(4) the AREM-LAPS can give a better reproduction for the daily change in the mean-rainfall-rate of the main rain band, and rainfall intensity changes in the eastern part of Southwest China, the coastal area in South China, the middle-lower valleys of Yangtze river, the Valleys of Huaihe river, and Shandong peninsula, with the rainfall intensity roughly close to the observation, while the rainfall intensity simulated by the AREM-3DVAR is clearly weaker than the observation, especially in the eastern part of Southwest China; and(5) the comparison verification between the AREM-LAPS and AREM-3DVAR for more than 10 typical rainfall processes in the summer of 2008 indicates that the AREM-LAPS gives a much better forecast than AREM-3DVAR in rain-band area, rainfall location and intensity, and in particular, the rainfall intensity forecast is improved obviously.

基于中尺度模式的大气稳定性对风电场运行特性

为了了解大气稳定性决定的风速廓线分布对风电场运行特性的影响,基于耦合风电场参数化方案的数值天气预报模式,探索了不同大气稳定性下大型风电场的尾流效应和风力机功率输出规律.结果表明:风电场在稳定大气边界条件下具有明显的尾流效应,随着大气由非稳定性转为强稳定性,尾流呈现加强趋势.另外,上下游风电场的相互干扰在稳定大气边界层下较为明显;功率输出方面,稳定边界条件下风电场功率输出较平均功率高了约4%,而不稳定边界层下低于平均功率输出约9%.此外,地表切应力和大气稳定强度对风力机功率输出影响显著,在不稳定大气边界条件下,大气稳定度可以作为风功率的评估参数,因此传统上仅考虑风切变对功率的影响是片面的.

A Model Study of Three-Dimensional Wind Field Analysis from Dual-Doppler Radar Data

A three-dimensional wind field analysis sollware based on the Beigng-Gucheng dual-Doppler weather radar system has been built, and evaluated by using the numerical cloud model producing storm flow and hydrometeor fields. The effects of observation noise and the spatial distribution of wind field analysis error are also investigated.

Comparison of satellite-estimated and model-forecasted rainfall data during a deadly debris-flow event in Zhouqu, Northwest China

The data of several rainfall products, including those estimated from satellite measurements and those forecasted via numerical weather modeling, for a severe debris-flow event in Zhouqu, Northwest China, are compared and analyzed in this paper. The satellite products, including CPC MORPHing technique（CMORPH）, TMPA-RT, and PERSIANN are all near-real-time retrieved with high temporal and spatial resolutions. The numerical weather model used in this paper for precipitation forecasting is WRF. The results show that all three satellite products can basically reproduce the rainfall pattern, distribution, timing, scale, and extreme values of the event, compared with gauge data. Their temporal and spatial correlation coefficients with gauge data are as high as about 0.6, which is statistically significant at 0.01 level. The performance of the forecasted results modeled with different spatial resolutions are not as good as the satellite-estimated results, although their correlation coefficients are still statistically significant at 0.05 level. From the total rainfall and extreme value time series for the domain, it is clear that, from the grid-to-grid perspective, the passive microwave-based CMORPH and TRMM products are more accurate than the infrared-based PERSIANN, while PERSIANN performs very well from the general point of view, especially when considering the whole domain or the whole convective precipitation system. The forecasted data — especially the highest resolution model domain data — are able to represent the total or mean precipitation very well in the research domain, while for extreme values the errors are large. This study suggests that satellite-retrieved and model-forecasted rainfall data are a useful complement to gauge data, especially for areas without gauge stations and areas not covered by weather radars.

An Algorithm on Convective Weather Potential in the Early Rainy Season over the Pearl River Delta in China

This paper describes the procedure and methodology to formulate the convective weather potential （CWP） algorithm. The data used in the development of the algorithm are the radar echoes at 0.5° elevation from Guangzhou Doppler Radar Station, surface observations from automatic weather stations （AWS） and outputs of numeric weather prediction （NWP） models. The procedure to develop the CWP algorithm consists of two steps： （1） identification of thunderstorm cells in accordance with specified statistical criteria; and （2） development of the algorithm based on multiple linear regression. The thunderstorm cells were automatically identified by radar echoes with intensity greater than or equal to 50 dB（Z） and of an area over 64 square kilometers. These cells are generally related to severe convective weather occurrences such as thunderstorm wind gusts, hail and tornados. In the development of the CWP algorithm, both echo- and environment-based predictors are used. The predictand is the probability of a thunderstorm cell to generate severe convective weather events. The predictor-predictand relationship is established through a stepwise multiple linear regression approach. Verification with an independent dataset shows that the CWP algorithm is skillful in detecting thunderstorm-related severe convective weather occurrences in the Pearl River Delta （PRD） region of South China. An example of a nowcasting case for a thunderstorm process is illustrated.

Evaluation of Unified Model Microphysics in High-resolution NWP Simulations Using Polarimetric Radar Observations

The UK Met Office Unified Model（UM） is employed by many weather forecasting agencies around the globe. This model is designed to run across spatial and time scales and known to produce skillful predictions for large-scale weather systems. However, the model has only recently begun running operationally at horizontal grid spacings of ～1.5 km [e.g.,at the UK Met Office and the Korea Meteorological Administration（KMA）]. As its microphysics scheme was originally designed and tuned for large-scale precipitation systems, we investigate the performance of UM microphysics to determine potential inherent biases or weaknesses. Two rainfall cases from the KMA forecasting system are considered in this study： a Changma（quasi-stationary） front, and Typhoon Sanba（2012）. The UM output is compared to polarimetric radar observations in terms of simulated polarimetric radar variables. Results show that the UM generally underpredicts median reflectivity in stratiform rain, producing high reflectivity cores and precipitation gaps between them. This is partially due to the diagnostic rain intercept parameter formulation used in the one-moment microphysics scheme. Model drop size is generally both underand overpredicted compared to observations. UM frozen hydrometeors favor generic ice（crystals and snow） rather than graupel, which is reasonable for Changma and typhoon cases. The model performed best with the typhoon case in terms of simulated precipitation coverage.

ConvLSTM Based Temperature Forecast Modification Model for North China

The correction of model forecast is an important step in evaluating weather forecast results.In recent years,post-processing models based on deep learning have become prominent.In this paper,a deep learning model named EDConvLSTM based on encoder-decoder structure and ConvLSTM is developed,which appears to be able to effectively correct numerical weather forecasts.Compared with traditional post-processing methods and convolutional neural networks,ED-ConvLSTM has strong collaborative extraction ability to effectively extract the temporal and spatial features of numerical weather forecasts and fit the complex nonlinear relationship between forecast field and observation field.In this paper,the post-processing method of ED-ConvLSTM for 2 m temperature prediction is tested using The International Grand Global Ensemble dataset and ERA5-Land data from the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts(ECMWF).Root mean square error and temperature prediction accuracy are used as evaluation indexes to compare ED-ConvLSTM with the method of model output statistics,convolutional neural network postprocessing methods,and the original prediction by the ECMWF.The results show that the correction effect of EDConvLSTM is better than that of the other two postprocessing methods in terms of the two indexes,especially in the long forecast time.

Statistical Modeling of Energy Production by Photovoltaic Farms

This paper introduces several alternative statistical approaches to modeling and prediction of electric energy generated by photovoltaic farms. The statistical models use outputs of a numerical weather prediction model as their inputs. Presented statistical models allow for easy-to-compute predictions, both in temporal sense and for out-of-sample individual farms. Model performance is illustrated on a sample of real photovoltaic farms located in the Czech Republic.

Surface Soil Moisture Simulation for a Typical Torrential Event with a Modified Noah LSM Coupling to the NWP Model

Surface soil moisture has great impact on both meso-and microscale atmospheric processes,especially on severe local convection processes and on the dynamics of short-lived torrential rains.To promote the performance of the land surface model (LSM) in surface soil moisture simulations,a hybrid hydrologic runoff parameterization scheme based upon the essential modeling theories of the Xin'anjiang model and Topography based hydrological Model (TOPMODEL) was developed in preference to the simple water balance model (SWB) in the Noah LSM.Using a strategy for coupling and integrating this modified Noah LSM to the Global/Regional Assimilation and Prediction System (GRAPES) analogous to that used with the standard Noah LSM,a simulation of atmosphere-land surface interactions for a torrential event during 2007 in Shandong was attempted.The results suggested that the surface,10-cm depth soil moisture simulated by GRAPES using the modified hydrologic approach agrees well with the observations.Improvements from the simulated results were found,especially over eastern Shandong.The simulated results,compared with the products of the Advanced Microwave Scanning Radiometer-Earth Observing System (AMSR-E) soil moisture datasets,indicated a consistent spatial pattern over all of China.The temporal variation of surface soil moisture was validated with the data at an observation station,also demonstrated that GRAPES with modified Noah LSM exhibits a more reasonable response to precipitation events,even though biases and systematic trends may still exist.

数值预报AI气象大模型国际发展动态研究

数值预报是研究地球系统的重要工具,有助于加深科学家对大气、海洋、气候和环境等复杂系统之间相互作用和变化过程的理解,在防灾减灾、气候变化和环境治理等方面发挥着不可或缺的作用。随着模式复杂度和分辨率的提高,传统数值模式在气候变化研究和气候预测方面取得了迅速的进展,但也面临一些挑战,需要得到数据同化、集合耦合、高性能计算和不确定性分析等多方面的支持。而近年来,“AI+气象”的交叉研究在气象领域引起了广泛关注。基于多种深度学习架构的人工智能大模型,依托强大的计算资源和海量的数据进行训练,能够以新的科学范式进行高效数值预报。气象大模型不断涌现,一些科技公司如华为、英伟达、DeepMind、谷歌、微软等,以及国内外高校如清华大学、复旦大学、密歇根大学、莱斯大学等发布了多个涵盖临近预报、短时预报、中期预报和延伸期预报等不同领域的气象大模型。这标志着人工智能与气象领域的交叉融合已经达到新的高度。尽管气象大模型在现阶段取得了较大突破,但其发展仍然面临弱可解释性、泛化能力不足、极端事件预报强度偏低、智能预报结果过平滑、深度学习框架能力需要拓展等诸多挑战。

A Local Ensemble Transform Kalman Filter Data Assimilation System for the Global FSU Atmospheric Model

Data assimilation is the process by which measurements and model predictions are combined to obtain an accurate representation of the state of the modeled system. We implemented a data assimilation scheme called LETKF （local ensemble transform Kalman filter） with FSUGSM （Florida State University Global Spectral Model） and made an experiment to evaluate the initial condition generated to numerical weather prediction to FSUGSM model. The LETKF analysis carries out independently at each grid point with the use of ＂local＂ observations. An ensemble of estimates in state space represents uncertainty. The FSUGSM is a multilevel （27 vertical levels） spectral primitive equation model, where the variables are expanded horizontally in a truncated series of spherical harmonic functions （at resolution T63） and a transform technique is applied to calculate the physical processes in real space The assimilation cycle runs on the period 01/01/2001 to 31/01/2001 at （00, 06, 12 and 18 GMT） for each day. We examined the atmospheric fields during the period and the OMF （observation-minus-forecast） and the OMA （observation-minus-analysis） statistics to verify the analysis quality comparing with forecasts and observations. The analyses present stability and show suitable to initiate the weather predictions.